Morocco That Was

Morocco That Was by Walter Harris

Until 1912 Morocco had never suffered foreign domination, and its mountainous interior was as closed to foreigners as Tibet. Walter Harris, though, was an exception.

He lived in the country for more than thirty-five years, and as The Times correspondent observed every aspect of its life. He describes the unfettered Sultanate in all its dark, melodramatic splendour.

He was an intimate of at least three ruling Sultans and a man capable of befriending his kidnapper. It was said that only three Christians had ever visited the walled city of Chechaouen: one was poisoned, one came for an hour disguised as a Rabbi…the other was Walter Harris.

"The combination of perceptive and reliable observer, and romantic eccentric makes Morocco That Was a classic of its genre."Times Literary Supplement

"His pages bring back the vanished days of the unfettered Sultanate in all their dark splendour; a mingling of magnificence with squalor, culture with barbarism, refined cruelty with naïve humour that reads like a dream of the Arabian Nights."The Times